Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) might be home to the southern hemisphere’s largest kitchen but regardless of event size and scale it all comes back to one simply philosophy at the heart of everything we do – made fresh, in house, by hand.

The key to creating great food is attention to detail, so for our chefs it’s all about applying the small restaurant thinking to the large number game.

Watch the video below to see how we give people from around the world a food and wine experience that takes them on a journey through our great state’s regions.

Melbourne’s Good Beer Week kicks off this weekend (Saturday 16 to Sunday 24 May), so what better way to celebrate than with a visit to MCEC’s newest beer supplier, Mountain Goat.

The 18-year-old Richmond micro-brewery was founded by good friends Dave and Cam, and has remained family owned and operated to this day. Sprouting from a love for home brewing and a business proposal written on a postcard from Canada, the team at Mountain Goat are just as passionate about beer today as they were when it first began.

Renowned beer sommelier, Miro Bellini, recently took the MCEC team on a tour of the micro-brewery and lead us through the process of production and bottling, adding in his own bit of beer history here and there. Did you know the first ever beer recipe to be written down dates back almost 15,000 years ago?

Much like MCEC, Mountain Goat are community and environmentally minded and have a number of measures in place, including an 11,000 litre rainwater tank and solar hot water to limit their impact.

They also source up to 90 per cent of their grains from Victorian farms and provide used grains and hops back to the farmers to use as pig and cow feed.

Offering a selection of six different brews and a cider means they can focus on quality, not quantity. You can try all these plus a few one-off specialty batches at The Goat Bar inside the brewery. The bar is open to the public every Wednesday and Friday from 5.00pm. They also hold free brewery tours every Wednesday at 6.30pm.

Their popular and refreshing certified organic Mountain Goat Steam Ale is now proudly part of MCEC’s wine and beer menu, available here.

With more than 2000 bottles being delivered to MCEC each month there’s a high chance you’ll see it on the menu next time you visit. Cheers to that!

On Thursday 21 May hundreds of others will also have the opportunity to experience the sensational five course menu matched with the finest wines, while they listen to remarkable stories of inspiration and hope in a beautifully themed room with first-class entertainment.

This will be the fourth year in a row MCEC have hosted and sponsored the Starlight Children’s Foundation major fundraiser in Melbourne, and the team are looking forward to delivering a spectacular event in an effort to support Australia’s seriously ill children.

To find out more information or to purchase tickets to the dinner please email courtney.jager@starlight.org.au. Stay tuned for the big menu reveal post-event.